


Visitors

by wildirish



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-04 18:12:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15846672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildirish/pseuds/wildirish
Summary: After being attacked, Felicity visits Oliver in prison for the first time. She's done doing this his way.





	Visitors

Felicity remembered the procedure for visiting someone in prison from her time in college when she visited her then-boyfriend Cooper. She’d signed her name–her real name–for the first time in months into the visitor’s log. There was no more need for the pretense of new identities. They hadn’t kept her safe. Her face was a clear indication of that.

Felicity didn’t need a mirror, though, to see how badly Oliver’s sacrifice had failed. She wasn’t wearing her trademark stilettos–hadn’t in months. She was wearing sturdy, black heeled boots like she used to wear when she went into the field as Overwatch. Her long sleeve sweater covered up much of the scratches and bruises she had endured fighting for her and William’s life in their small two-bedroom apartment set up for them by witness protection. She wasn’t striding easily down the narrow hallway; she was limping after the guard who was leading her into the visitation area.

A bag of peas and some Advil had taken most of the swelling out of her ankle, but it was still tender. Her assailant had caught her by the ankle when she’d tried to make a break for it. She’d fallen and landed in the puddle of hot coffee she had thrown at the man. The bottom side of her palm, her wrist, and part of her arm were burned from the hot liquid. The fall had stolen her breath and the man had been able to get on top of her. She’d fought him off as best as she could, but his hand had wrapped around her narrow neck, crushing down on her larynx and choking the air from her.

She’d grappled trying to reach the discarded metal coffee pot and that’s when he’d backhanded her a few times, splitting her lip and bruising her face. She didn’t think she had a concussion. She’d had a few of those to know.

Just as Felicity’s fingers had just touched the handle of the pot, a shadow had loomed above both her and the man. A loud _gong_ sound and the swaying of the man was all Felicity noticed. As the man started to topple, Felicity saw William standing over them with a frying pan in his hands like a baseball. She used the man’s momentary distraction to grab hold of the pot and swing up and hit the man on the other side of the head.

His grip loosened, and Felicity pushed herself away. When she was up with more leverage, she swung the pot again, denting it and sending the man unconscious onto the kitchen floor.

“Are you okay?” Felicity asked William immediately. Her voice was low and raspy after being nearly strangled.

“What about you?” William countered.

“I’m okay. We’re okay,” Felicity said and pulled William in for a hug, reassuring them both.

“Grab a bag with the basics. We’re getting out of here,” Felicity said.

“But I thought we weren’t allowed to leave?” William asked.

“We also weren’t supposed to be found,” Felicity countered. “I’m done doing this everyone else’s way. We’re doing it my way now. So hurry up.”

And that’s how Felicity found herself two days later limping into a room with protective glass, phones, and dividers for the illusion of privacy. She knew Oliver would be surprised to see her. She technically wasn’t allowed to be here. Felicity Smoak no longer existed; which meant she wasn’t allowed to visit her husband of less than a year while he served a life sentence in maximum security prison.

It sometimes seemed unfathomable to Felicity that she and Oliver had been married for almost a year, just shy of their anniversary, but they hadn’t seen each other in most of that time. A year ago, Felicity could have never imagined how her life would turn out–separated from her husband and a single mom to her step-son.

She sat down and waited for Oliver to be brought in. She stared unflinchingly at the prisoner’s entrance and saw when he was escorted inside the room. Because of this, she saw exactly when he recognized her–she saw the surprise, the curiosity, and the pure joy that melted into his patented flat look and what she called his ragey-face. He looked like the man he used to be; prepared to snap someone’s neck. Or shoot three arrows into someone for daring to hurt her.

Felicity took in his own appearance. He didn’t look like he had been fairing any better in prison than she had been outside. His face was marked up and bruised. They looked like matching, broken sets. Even miles, and concrete walls and electric fences apart, Oliver and Felicity still seemed to be on the same page.

“Felicity, what happened? Are you okay? Where’s William?” were Oliver’s first words to her in six months.

Felicity’s lip trembled. Not out of remembered fear of her attack; but because this was the first time she had heard Oliver’s voice in so long and she had begun to forget not just the sound but the little inflections in it. Like how his voice always sounded different whenever he said her name. Oliver was slowly becoming a stranger to her.

Hell, she was even a stranger to herself.

But no more.

“Diaz’s men found us. His guy broke into our apartment and attacked us. William and I fought him off,” Felicity told him. “William’s okay. He’s just waiting by the entrance because they won’t let more than one person at a time visit.”

“How did they find you?” Oliver’s voice was a threat.

Felicity shrugged and the movement made her wince. She’d hurt her shoulder in her tussle. She noticed Oliver’s grip on the phone tightened in direct correlation to her wince.

“What happened to you?” Felicity asked.

“There’s a lot of guys in here who aren’t big fans of the Green Arrow,” Oliver admitted. “I’ve been trying to keep my head down and not get into too much trouble.”

Felicity scoffed. “So, you’re just going to let yourself be their punching bag?”

“I’m trying to be on good behavior…”

“For _what_?!” Felicity snapped. “You turned yourself in and you were given a life sentence. They aren’t going to parole you, Oliver. No matter how well behaved you are.”

“Felicity....” Oliver said softly. Clearly understanding the rage underscoring her words.

“No. _No_ ,” Felicity interrupted him. The rage he sensed was brimming to the top. Her hand holding the phone began to tremble. She used the other hand to steady her grip. “ _You_ did this to yourself and us, Oliver. And you didn’t give me any say in the matter…”

“It was to protect you…”

“I’m not done talking,” Felicity snarled. “You had your say–or what you could consider your say when they arrested you. Something you never gave me any warning about. You just sacrificed yourself–for what?! For people who betrayed us? For me? I _never_ asked you to do that, Oliver.”

“It was the only way,” Oliver said. “Agent Watson wouldn’t help otherwise. And it was my mission that started this. Whatever trouble you were in was my fault.”

Felicity closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Nothing he was saying was making her feel any better. “No, it was _your_ way, Oliver. But you seem to have forgot–again–you weren’t a solo agent. We made promises, Oliver. Vows. We were a team. And you just threw that all away. I know you think you did it to save us, but we didn’t need you to. You may have started the mission, Oliver, but I stayed for myself. You never coerced me into helping. Stop acting like you’re responsible for everyone else’s choices.”

“I’m sorry. I know I hurt you. And William. And I’m sorry,” Oliver said softly. “But it wasn’t just about saving you guys. The city needed saving and it was the only way to get the help we needed.”

“And yet the city isn’t saved,” Felicity said. “Your big plan with Agent Watson didn’t work. Because Diaz escaped. So you threw yourself on your quiver for no reason at all.”

“I was just trying to save everyone,” Oliver said contritely.

“I’m angry, Oliver. And I don’t know how not to be angry. Any more than I know how to not love you,” Felicity confessed. “No matter how angry I am, I still love you.”

“I love you, too, Felicity. So much. The thought of you and William is the only thing that keeps me going in here,” Oliver admitted. “I miss you.”

“We miss you, too,” Felicity said. “And we’ve tried doing it your way, but it didn’t work.”

“What are you talking about?” Oliver asked.

“We did the witness protection thing that you set up for us. We’ve left our home behind. Our friends. Our lives. All because you thought it was safer for us. But it wasn’t,” Felicity said. The rage that had been boiling had tempered. It wasn’t this out of control inferno burning her soul; now it was a steady flame fueling her.

“What are you going to do?” Oliver asked, and his worry was palpable through the wires connecting them.

“I have to fight back, Oliver,” Felicity vowed. “I can’t hide anymore. It didn’t work. I was cut off from all the things that I know to protect William and me. But not anymore. We’re going back to Star City, Oliver. And we’re going to save ourselves and the city.”

“Felicity that is incredibly dangerous. Don’t. Please,” Oliver begged.

Felicity shook her head. “I have to. _We_ have to. William’s life has been in upheaval for the last two years. He finally got a bit of normalcy and that was yanked away. I helped build a company that I can’t participate in. And I helped create a legacy that was stripped from me.”

Oliver understood she was talking about Overwatch.

“It’s time to take it all back.”

“But the danger…”

“Look at me, Oliver. _Look at me,_ ” Felicity beseeched. “Does it look like I was any place less dangerous?”

Oliver closed his eyes because he was trying so hard not to look at the bruises and the cuts on her face. He was trying not to imagine where else she was hurt. This was his fault. He should have been there to protect his family. And seeing her this way–his wife, his partner, his soul mate–he realized that he needed to take her example once again.

It was time to fight back. And somehow, someway, Oliver would find a way to fight his way back to his family.

“Promise me you’ll go to Digg,” Oliver begged.

Felicity nodded. “I will.”

“Good. He’ll keep an eye on both of you. Help keep you safe until…” Oliver trailed off, not wanting to admit over the prison phone that he intended to find a way back to his family.

But because he knew Felicity’s face so well–because they knew each other so well–Oliver saw the recognition on her face.

“Diaz is in prison,” she supplied, and Oliver nodded mutely.

The guard signaled that they were out of time.

Suddenly a rush of words climbed into Oliver’s throat. “I’m sorry, Felicity. I’m so sorry that I failed you and William. I’ll never stop trying to make it up to you both, somehow, some way. I love you. I love you both.”

“We love you too,” Felicity told him, and she pressed her hand up against his on the glass. “We’ll come back to visit again. There’s no reason not to anymore. William will want to see you next time.”

“Be careful.”

“You too, Oliver,” Felicity whispered before she hung up the phone.

Visiting time was over.

* * *

Good, bad? Lemme know? Thanks for reading.

 


End file.
